{"id":28350,"date":"2017-07-04T13:04:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T20:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=28350"},"modified":"2017-07-04T13:04:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T20:04:18","slug":"pithy-progressive-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/04\/pithy-progressive-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Pithy Progressive #6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the day when Democrats could actually run as Democrats, we never had to ask questions like the ones we are looking at today:\u00a0 How can we get Democrats elected to offices since a Teflon President has apparently passed on that mantle (now usually referred to as IOKIYAR) to an entire guilty party, for whom people CONTINUE TO VOTE?<\/p>\n

It’s the Fourth of July, and therefore a great day to feature a Progressive who has just published a (co-written with Sam Ulschneider) essay on the Declaration of Independence.\u00a0 First published to Blue Virginia<\/a>, it was also re-posted to Daily Kos<\/a> by the candidate.\u00a0 I’m not going to quote it for intellectual property reasons, but it is well worth the read.\u00a0 Instead, I am going to quote Schuyler VanValkenburg’s platform from his campaign website – still his own words, but more freely share-able.\u00a0 He is running to be the delegate from Virginia’s 72nd District<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Economic opportunity\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe in creating an economic environment that creates opportunity for all.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our legislature has spent the past eight years pursuing policies which promote the economic livelihood of the few here in Virginia, and the interest of key campaign contributors.\u00a0 We need to – and can – fix our tax and infrastructure policies to support middle-class families instead.<\/em>
\n \u2022Updating the tax code.\u00a0 Due to a dysfunctional General Assembly tax breaks for special interests are costing the state $2.3 billion a year.<\/em>
\n \u2022Promote infrastructure spending, in tandem with the national government to help bring quality jobs to all Virginians.<\/em><\/p>\n

Improved Healthcare<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Virginia has done very little in recent years to ensure the ongoing health of our citizens, squandering important opportunities to extend coverage and services.<\/em>
\n \u2022Virginia needs to expand Medicaid under the opportunities available under the Affordable Care Act.\u00a0 Medicaid expansion will fix the devastating coverage gap in Virginia, improve children’s health, and even give more options to our veterans.<\/em>
\n \u2022We need to treat addiction as a disease rather than criminalizing it.\u00a0 Embracing modern techniques for recovery, financial help for recovery programs, and smarter legal structures and systems will keep Virginia from enduring the most devastating consequences of the opiate addiction crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n

Democracy and Civic Engagement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a teacher, I have seen the transformative power of knowledge and democratic engagement.\u00a0 One of the core values of my campaign is broadening the dialogue and encouraging more members of our community to have a voice in the political process at every level.\u00a0 This includes lowering barriers to voting, ending gerrymandering to create competitive districts where candidates must really pay attention to their constituents, and reigning in abuses of the campaign finance system,<\/em>
\n \u2022End all barriers to voting, including discriminatory Voter ID laws, extending voting times, and easing precinct lines.<\/em>
\n \u2022Create a campaign finance system that emphasizes fairness and transparency while also being actively enforced.<\/em><\/p>\n

Education<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe in extending access to high quality education through student loans and tuition price freezes, an expansion of pre-K access, strengthening our standards and professional resources in K-12, and lowering class sizes.<\/em>
\n \u2022The creation of a Student Loan Authority to help ease our citizen\u2019s student loan crisis<\/em>
\n \u2022Provide the funding and programs to create a ten-year plan to gradually increase pre-K education for all Virginians<\/em>
\n \u2022Promoting a k-12 budget that prioritizes small class sizes, professional and well-paid teachers, and a curriculum suited for the 21st century.<\/em><\/p>\n

Equality<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe that Virginia has been and should be a bold symbol of American values of egalitarianism – every person, regardless of religion, sexuality, gender, or race should have the same legal rights, opportunities, and social status as everyone else.<\/em>
\n \u2022Fight any attempt to pass \u201cbathroom bills\u201d or \u201creligious freedom bills\u201d that attempt to discriminate against the LGTBQ community.<\/em>
\n \u2022Fight for reform in the criminal justice system.<\/em>
\n \u2022Push back against any attempt to infringe on women\u2019s health programs while fighting to end the gender pay gap.<\/em>
\n \u2022Promote child leave policies that allow mothers and fathers to balance family and work.<\/em><\/p>\n

Community Development<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Virginia’s state government can do more to help its counties and cities build infrastructure, fund crucial projects, and strengthen local programs on the ground.<\/em>
\n \u2022Fight to ensure that the state lives up to its budgetary promises.\u00a0 There is currently a $600,000,000 shortfall in the education budget for localities.<\/em>
\n \u2022Work to ensure that the Richmond metropolitan region has the funding and communication necessary to promote our economy.\u00a0 This includes local projects like revitalizing Lakeside Avenue and fixing the traffic on Sadler Road.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wish Mr. VanValkenburg a decisive victory.\u00a0 (I hope his practically-New-Amsterdam name doesn’t hurt him.)\u00a0 He has lived in Virginia since 2001, so he is no carpetbagger, though he may be considered an immigrant to Virginia.\u00a0 But, as Lin-Manuel Miranda has said, “Immigrants – We Get the Job Done!”<\/p>\n

Cross posted to Care2 at http:\/\/www.care2.com\/news\/member\/101612212\/4060312<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the day when Democrats could actually run as Democrats, we never had to ask questions like the ones we are looking at today:\u00a0 How can we get Democrats elected to offices since a Teflon President has apparently passed on that mantle (now usually referred to as IOKIYAR) to an entire guilty party, for […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}